This invention relates to circuit breakers used to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by an overload or a short circuit. If a power surge occurs in a circuit protected by the circuit breaker, for example, the breaker will trip. This will cause a breaker that was in the “on” position to flip to the “off” position, and will interrupt the electrical power leading from that breaker. By tripping in this way, a circuit breaker can prevent a fire from starting on an overloaded circuit, and can also prevent the destruction of the device that is drawing the electricity or other devices connected to the protected circuit.
A standard circuit breaker has a line and a load. Generally, the line receives incoming electricity, most often from a power company. This is sometimes referred to as the input into the circuit breaker. The load, sometimes referred to as the output, feeds out of the circuit breaker and connects to the electrical components being fed from the circuit breaker. A circuit breaker may protect an individual component connected directly to the circuit breaker, for example, an air conditioner, or a circuit breaker may protect multiple components, for example, household appliances connected to a power circuit which terminates at electrical outlets.
In some applications, it is desirable to have a low profile circuit breaker, especially in computer data center applications where space is very limited. However, the new trend in data centers is to require a higher interrupting capacity (“IC”) requirement (e.g. 10,000 amps @ 240 & 277 VAC) due to higher voltage front end feeds for increased system efficiency. Still further, in applications such as computer data centers a bulky terminal barrier is required to be installed to protect the circuit breaker terminals, which requires additional space, and increases costs and the complexity of the installation.
What is desired, therefore, is a slim profile circuit breaker with a incorporated terminal barrier. What is further desired is a slim profile circuit breaker design that allows for less complex installations, alleviates the requirement for a separate terminal barrier and which saves money on design, manufacturing and inventory requirements.